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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Temperature Quilt: The Details

Since the New Year will quickly be upon us, I thought I'd better get this post up for anyone who wants to go ahead and do this with me.

First up: Fabric. I decided to extend my range. I've got 28 fabrics. That's one for every 5 degrees from -30 through 110 degrees Fahrenheit. This might depend a bit on where you live and how many days a year you are in a certain range of temperatures. I'm working with fat quarters here, and if you go with strips that are 2.5" x 5.5" you should be able to (carefully) cut 28 pieces from each fat quarter. If you are in a temperate climate where everyday is in the 70's, maybe you want a fat quarter for each degree in that range. This is totally up to you and how you want to make your quilt look. If purple is your thing, you could assign each temperature range a purple color.

So I finally sat down and made up some patterns. First up is my original plan. Patches are cut 2.5" x 5.5". This will get a quilt center of 60" x 62"

Next up is a smaller version, finishing at 48" x 45" center. To get this size you would cut your patches into 4.5" x 2" pieces.

Now, if you're thinking larger; like 96" x 96" the patches will need to be cut 3.5" x 8.5". At this size patch, you'll only get 10 patches per fat quarter, so more fabric will certainly be necessary for those temperatures that your area sees the most.

Lastly, the mini version: A finished center of 32" x 36" means patches would be cut at 1.5" x 3.5".

Some other things to mention. Each month (obviously) has a different number of days. I figure there are a couple ways of addressing this. If you look at my two examples above you'll see I added the extra grey patches on the right, starting each month on the same place on the left. If you wanted to center things you could add half patches on each end of the shorter months, or you could stagger your months, as well. I guess this might be less of a quilt-a-long and more of a suggestion/guide to get you going.

Temperature guide. I would suggest deciding before you begin to find a consistent place to base your daily temperatures on. If you want to use your own thermometer, great. I am going to use a website that tracks daily temperatures, and one that I can go back to find 'historical' data for when I'm out of town, or behind on my quilt (not like that would happen). In my case the closest weather station is an airport about 8 miles from my home. Around here, this matters. Since I am in SE Wisconsin, Lake Michigan can greatly effect the weather (called Lake Effect). But sometimes it depends just how close you are to the lake. Sometimes a half mile can make a difference in temperature and clouds and snow, too.

Right now, my plan is to share each week's progress on Fridays. Which means next Friday, 1/3/14 will have my first 3 patches cut and sewn.

Lastly, I am happy to answer any questions. I reply to comments if I can, but if you don't hear from me you are probably a 'no-reply' blogger. Then feel free to either leave me your email in the comment, or email me directly.

9 comments:

Hi Rachel! Is this your own design? What a COOL idea! Your fabrics are really pretty. Looking forward to seeing your progress. I'd love to join in, but have resolved to clearing out my PIGS and WIPs. I will most certainly be following you to see how it turns out. I think it will be one HOT quilt!

I am intrigued...I will dwell on this tonight....my problem would be getting enough variety in the temp colors since I live in the PNW, ie, the West Coast where the temps hardly vary...I do like your layout anbd your choice of FF's. Love FF's.

I'm loving your progress so far! I'm almost done with my scarf, and I just love it! It's a little different, than I expected, but years are like that, too, aren't they? ;-)

Since I had a niece and a nephew born in 2013, I decided to go ahead and add a (completely new) color onto those days. It's a momentous reason to celebrate and remember 2013 in addition to the crazy weather. I'm excited watching your year move along!

I am doing this, but I am using my scraps - different colors for every 10 degrees - 2" squares. I have crocheted temperature blankets, but never tried fabric. I'm anxious to see how it comes out. Yours look great!